MrColionNoir x FateOfDestinee On Hoplophobia

The two take a look at the irrational fear of firearms:

On paper I like the idea of “trying to convert people”, but the amount of fucks I give about what other people think, lately has been at an all time low. If someone likes guns cool, I’ll have a conversation on gun related topics if they’re up for one… on the other hand if someone dislikes guns and wants to try and educate me with all their “facts” which I’ve heard a million times and have rebuttals for every single one of them, sorry but I’ll pass. I’ve been down that road too many times, and didn’t see any benefit come from it. Your milage may vary…

Thoughts? Have you converted people to our side, or do you avoid those conversations?

I’ve posted some of FateOfDestinee‘s videos in the past. Her videos are a lot different from other gun related YouTube channels, in a good way… make sure to check her out. For one, she’s incredibly laid back which makes he videos relaxing to watch.. in addition she’s also very comfortable behind the camera (no Buck Yeager shoulder rolls and shirt pulls here). A great asset to the gun community as a whole, and a good way introduce a girl in your life to firearms.

I actually have a friend who was very liberal and after 3 or so years around me she became a left leaning moderate who was tolerant of guns. When I first told her about guns she was not too happy; but now she is willing to shoot guns at the range with me. I would call that a sucessful conversion.

I’ve never had to try to convert a hoplophobe, but have taken more than one person to the range for the first time shooting.

I make sure they know the four rules, and then try to get them to a stage that all rounds are accounted for on the target. If they want to go further, they can. But my biggest aim is that when someone says something dumb about firearms, they at least have a little knowledge to judge by.

Christmas time was fun. We all got together at my parents’ house. My brother and his girlfriend had their carry guns with them, I brought an AR15 to teach my brother maintenance and some other stuff as he’s wanting to buy one. My sister, who lives in NYC, decided it would be a good idea to start asking “why do you need those?” and all of the other parroted questions the antis ask about ‘assault rifles’.

We sat and chatted, she grew increasingly agitated and irrational as we all brought up more and more counter points that are in favor of less control and more people carrying. She asked if we thought teachers should be allowed to carry, to which everyone pretty much nodded. “Don’t even go there” and the conversation ended.

I don’t get it. It’s like there’s some switch that turns off the rational thought process when you talk to people about certain topics like religion, politics, guns, GLBT rights, abortion, etc. They have their views/beliefs and there’s no way in hell you can even express dissenting opinions without them becoming increasingly belligerent.

I have a cousin who understands my views and opposes them, but we can sit and have a rational discussion to both broaden our understanding. And he likes to make trolling anti-gun comments, just to take a fun jab. But he’s said the only reason he doesn’t still have a gun is because he didn’t like having a gun in the house with kids and it was easier for everyone to sell it to an uncle. And it’s just something he isn’t interested in. We come to a mutual understanding and he has no desire to see my guns taken away from me. But he probably wouldn’t lift a finger to help ensure they’re not taken away just like myself (a single 20-something male) really has no care for pro-life/pro-choice debates and couldn’t care less which way the law swings.

That’s the real concern, in my mind. Not the fervent anti-gunners, but the people who don’t care and won’t bat an eye when liberty is trampled. I align myself with the pro-choice camp despite being ‘conservative’ because I believe in the person’s choice. But I don’t see the restriction of magazine capacity or ‘military features’ on rifles as an area of enough concern for most non-gun people to care or see it as a threat to choice and liberty.

I agree the problem really isn’t the hoplophobes. Most of them can’t be converted. If we can, great, but I don’t hold out great hope. What concerns me also are the sheep that go through life and refuse to object. They don’t realize that the TSA searches are unconstitutional; the Terry stop rules exist for a reason; that cops aren’t gods.

They want to depend on 9-11 and don’t realize that SCOTUS has ruled, numerous times, that the police have no duty to protect you as an individual.

My fiance was very anti-gun, and for a long time never understood why I would need guns. She would get scared of my 1911 which I left condition 1 on the coffee table or my AK which I would leave condition 3 next to my bed at night.

As time went on, she began to see them more as objects and saw that it was more about the person behind the gun and less about the gun itself. She eventually expressed interest in learning to shoot, and now she wants to get her CCW. After taking time to learn, she sees it more as a way for a 100 pound girl to even the playing field against multiple 200 pound attackers.

I had an anti-hunting colleague post out leaflets with (incorrect) information telling the overseas exchange students that I had given surplus rabbits and hares to that they were breaking the law and threatening to alert the authorities and withdraw their visas, but she was quickly set straight by teachers who had also received the meat ;)

My wife was a bleeding heart Liberal who over the past 10 years has gone from a “no guns ever” point of view to watching her soaps while I clean my guns on the couch with her. She has no interest in them but they certainly don’t bother her anymore. My 5 year old thinks they’re totally awesome though!

There are a handful of people (like most of us reading this) who are firmly pro-gun and it is difficult or impossible to change their opinions. There are a handful of people like Sen. Feinstein who are firmly anti-gun and it is difficult or impossible to change their opinions.
However, IMHO, the majority of people (including many of those who would support an AWB) are somewhere in the middle, and are at least somewhat open to being educated. These people are low-hanging fruit, easy to educate and often willing to learn once you make it clear you aren’t a stereotypical right wingnut gun crazy redneck.

When one of those middle grounders (who knows little or nothing about guns), sees a news story of innocent kids getting shot, and then hears “this psycho used a high powered military style assault weapon, there is no legitimate reason for a civilian to own a high powered assault rifle, we should get the military destructive weapons out of civilian hands” it sounds pretty good. At least it makes logical sense, so many get on board.

Now obviously we all know an AR-15 is no more powerful than the next .223 rifle, and is less powerful than your average deer hunting rifle. But the middle grounders (who make up the majority of the US population) don’t know that. They think an AR-15 is one of the most powerful guns out there and is used for a lot of crime. They think semi-automatic means rapid fire, and they think ‘high capacity assault clip’ means a psycho can just keep blasting away for hours without having to stop and reload. They think these things because nobody has ever bothered to reach out and educate them, and they’ve never had the interest to seek out the knowledge to educate themselves.

This is what NRA should be doing- reaching out en masse to the middle grounders, most of whom are liberal or democratic, and just begging them to read some educational material or come to their local range for a politics-free shooting lesson. Unfortunately NRA isn’t doing it, or if they are they aren’t doing it near enough.

So without leadership from national groups like NRA, it’s up to us. Most of the people that are open to education aren’t the ones who are loudly shouting for gun control. They’re the ones who quietly agree, or who don’t say anything. Often it only takes one trip to the range to ‘convert’ these people.
**To preserve our 2A rights and ensure there is a next generation of shooters, it is ESSENTIAL that we reach out and convert as many of these people as possible.**

I used to make it a point to take as many non shooters and Democrats to the range as possible. My reasoning was that it was 1) A good way to promote safety with beginning shooters. 2) A chance to convert some Dems on the gun issue.

I’ll keep taking the non shooters and the beginners, but I’m done with the Democrats and the FSA. I’m sick of wasting my time on those that send anti gun politicians to DC every 2 years. There is no converting them. The very best that I can hope for is that they might frown while marking the ballot for the guy with the (D) behind his name in 2014.
As I said earlier, I’m done with the Free Shit Army. My time is valuable and I’m not wasting it on anymore of them.